Industry Ales

 

Spacious, warehouse-esque craft brewery in the downtown loop area with a wide array of solid to excellent brews on tap and a full food and cocktail menu as well. I visited on a Saturday evening expecting the rush and found it entirely pleasant. Excellent service, great beers, and for the big city it doesn’t break the bank… I’ll be back!

My family and I had dinner here on a recent trip to Chicago. It is a modern-looking brewpub, the most striking feature of which are enormous hop chandeliers. They have a very interesting selection of beer. There are about a dozen choices, mixed between traditional styles and more experimental brews (unusual grains and a heather beer). All the beer was flavorful and interesting. The food menu is limited and somewhat unusual. It isn't the typical brew-pub tavern food. It is a little more gourmet (Albondigas, salmon roles, and rillette). The Rillette was wonderful. Unfortunately, the steak in my steak salad was a very poor cut that was full of fat and unchewable sinew. The service was incredibly slow. It wasn't busy, but the server disappeared and left our glasses empty for most of the dinner. Next time I would avoid the food and just sample the beers at the bar.

Been watching for this place to open for months now, excited to get a second brewery in the Loop (after Adams Street). Finally able to pop in yesterday to see what everything's about. The average-sized entry belies the actual depth of the place, the far back wall seemingly miles away. Marching past a hall of tables (mostly 2-seaters, communal dining be damned (celebrated by the essentially misanthropic me)) beneath a prism of a ceiling, the black marble bar sits on the right, fronted by a bunch of comfortable seats (padding? you shouldn't have (yes you should!)), backed by a few large screens, and standing in the shadow of an upper-level loft-ish seating area. There weren't many in the place early on a Tuesday post-afternoon, but the architecture makes me thing it could get pretty loud if full. At the time, only 4 house beers were on, the rest of the taps hosting some solid guests like Roaring Table, Pipeworks, and Goldfinger. The styles on offer tend toward the more interesting, with a NZ-hopped pale ale being joined by a light mild, a bitter, and a rye. Solid stuff up front, looking forward to seeing what they put up in the future. Tenders were attentive and willing to talk up the suds. I didn't try any of the food on this visit, so can't provide you any help there. Overall, this place has some palpable promise, and I can't help but look forward to their future here in the Loop.